EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/17/2015:  22:31:56

Both the original TOTW volunteer and the substitute volunteer are unable to post this week, so I am posting a very quick emergency back-up tune.

That tune is "Ten Strike", by southwestern Michigan fiddler Les "Red" Raber.

LES RABER

You can read about Red here: goldengriffonstringtet.com/raber.htm

In 2001, Red's daughter Judy Raber and Jim McKinney published "Come Dance With Me: Original Fiddle Compositions and  Favorite Tunes of Les Raber".  It is available from Elderly Instruments: elderly.com/books/items/582-1.htm

The only video I could find of his fiddle playing is from the 1981 Battleground Festival, where he plays "Durangs Hornpipe" and "Millers Reel": youtube.com/watch?v=dLemqyHnlr8.

THE TUNE

I haven't yet found any online audio or video of Red himself playing "Ten Strike", but there are two YouTube videos of Judy Raber and friends performing the tune.

youtube.com/watch?v=s1QDsg0DTIc

youtube.com/watch?v=VBW33fsw0Fg

Red can be heard playing "Ten Strike" on the album "Come Dance With Me...A Little More", a two-disc compilation of three of his earlier releases, available from Judy Raber:  dulcimers.com/lesraber/

Banjo tab can be found on the TaterJoes site: taterjoes.com/banjo/TenStrike.pdf

I have a bit more information on Red and "Ten Strike", but as it is now 1:30 am, I will wait until tomorrow to post it.

Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 10/18/2015 21:27:00

Kernel - Posted - 10/18/2015:  00:59:25

This is a fun tune and it's always good to find another one in the key of C. It's got a catchy melody and chord structure that's a nice contrast to those one chord modal pieces. It's one of the tunes that we have fun playing then have a good laugh because it's a bit on the dorky side of the old time spectrum.

There's a nice commercial recording by Bowhunter. It's the only one I found. You can find it on CDBaby cdbaby.com/cd/bowhunter or Amazon amazon.com/gp/product/B00MLJHW..._sp_ps_dp. Either will let you buy and download the one tune but I thought the whole CD was pretty enjoyable.

If you want to give your fiddle friends a nudge here are fiddle transcriptions that Mark Wardenburg did of Charlie Walden's playing and from the Bowhunter recording. taterjoes.com/fiddle/TenStrike.pdf. I based my version (taterjoes.com/banjo/TenStrike.pdf) on Charlie Walden's playing but there are only a few notes different between the two. 

LyleK - Posted - 10/18/2015:  09:20:07

Thanks "Egger" for jumping in at the last moment.

Technically speaking this is a repeat of a tune ("Oklahoma Rooster") from last June, just down a note from key of D to key of C.  See banjohangout.org/archive/286794

Edited by - LyleK on 10/18/2015 09:22:33

JanetB - Posted - 10/18/2015:  12:59:44

Thanks for an interesting fill-in, Bret, and my introduction to Les "Red" Raber.  A bit of research followed and I recognized the distinctive B part from the TOTW Oklahoma Rooster, said to be the fourth part of the Ten Strike Quadrille, and included in an 1890 book called Gems of the Ballroom by George McCosh.  In this link from the Chicago chapter of the Fiddlers of the World,  http://drdosido.net/fiddleclub/2008/05/ten-strike-strikes-again/, you'll hear recordings of Chirps Smith, Les Raber, and a version of Oklahoma Rooster, having been first recorded by Uncle Dick Hutchison in 1976.  All three recordings are in the key of C.  Hope you don't mind us jumping in, Bret.  I'm looking forward to your further information.

VIDEO: Oklahoma Rooster (click to view)

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 10/18/2015:  14:51:15

lThanks Egger! As you know I had volunteered to be substitute TOTWer a few days back....and then I hate to say it but I 100% plumb forgot. Thank you for making things right! Bad sugarinthegourd! Bad!

:-)

Thanks again

John

EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/18/2015:  18:36:34

Thanks to all for the responses. I chose this tune because of its connection to Les Raber.  Being from Ohio, I have always had an interest in old-time musicians from the Great Lakes region. Over the past few years I've learned a good bit about fiddlers and banjo players from Ohio and (largely due to work of Gary and Steve Harrison and friends) those from Illinois. But I know next to nothing about traditional Michigan fiddling, even though I have spent a great deal of time in that state in the past decade or so.

Anyway, Les is on my list of "fiddlers to research", but I haven't actually gotten around to doing much of that research yet.  Nevertheless, since I was just in his home county recently, I figured I would go ahead and post a tune of his.

Many of Les' recorded tunes have titles completely unfamiliar to me (a track list can be found here: dulcimers.com/lesraber/).  I chose "Ten Strikes" simply because it was the only one of those unique tunes for which I could find banjo tab.  Since this was a quick back-up tune I obviously didn't do my due diligence, and didn't realize that it is not actually all that unique, and is in effect a repeat of an earlier Tune of the Week.  Sorry about that - and thanks to Lyle for pointing out that "Ten Strikes" is basically an alternate title for "Oklahoma Rooster".  I thought about  trying to change this TOTW to a different Les Raber tune, but that would probably unnecessarily complicate things.  So I'll just let it stand as an homage to the "old-time folk process".

EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/18/2015:  18:46:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kernel

 

This is a fun tune and it's always good to find another one in the key of C. It's got a catchy melody and chord structure that's a nice contrast to those one chord modal pieces. It's one of the tunes that we have fun playing then have a good laugh because it's a bit on the dorky side of the old time spectrum.

There's a nice commercial recording by Bowhunter. It's the only one I found. You can find it on CDBaby cdbaby.com/cd/bowhunter or Amazon amazon.com/gp/product/B00MLJHW..._sp_ps_dp. Either will let you buy and download the one tune but I thought the whole CD was pretty enjoyable.

If you want to give your fiddle friends a nudge here are fiddle transcriptions that Mark Wardenburg did of Charlie Walden's playing and from the Bowhunter recording. taterjoes.com/fiddle/TenStrike.pdf. I based my version (taterjoes.com/banjo/TenStrike.pdf) on Charlie Walden's playing but there are only a few notes different between the two. 

 

---

Thanks for all the additional information, links, and thoughts on the tune, Ken. 

Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 10/18/2015 18:47:31

EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/18/2015:  20:09:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by JanetB

 

Thanks for an interesting fill-in, Bret, and my introduction to Les "Red" Raber.  A bit of research followed and I recognized the distinctive B part from the TOTW Oklahoma Rooster, said to be the fourth part of the Ten Strike Quadrille, and included in an 1890 book called Gems of the Ballroom by George McCosh.  In this link from the Chicago chapter of the Fiddlers of the World,  http://drdosido.net/fiddleclub/2008/05/ten-strike-strikes-again/, you'll hear recordings of Chirps Smith, Les Raber, and a version of Oklahoma Rooster, having been first recorded by Uncle Dick Hutchison in 1976.  All three recordings are in the key of C.  Hope you don't mind us jumping in, Bret.  I'm looking forward to your further information.

---

Thanks for the info and link, Janet.  I don't mind you jumping in at all - in fact, I was kind of counting on it, since I didn't include much information in my post.

I came across another site or two devoted to Les Raper and his music; I was going to try to summarize their contents, but don't really have time at the moment, so I'll just include the links:

museum.msu.edu/s-program/mh_aw...91lr.html,

michiganfiddle.com/michigan-ma...rt-videos

I am pressed for time because I am helping close friend pack up her house in Wisconsin and move to Sausalito. Next week we will be driving a U-Haul truck across country on I-80.  On the last day we'll be passing through your neck of the woods - if you see a truck hauling some old farmhouse furniture, two dogs and a chicken, be sure to give us a wave (there must be an old-time tune in there somewhere; well, besides "The Ballad of Jed Clampett").

EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/18/2015:  20:11:12

quote:

---

Originally posted by sugarinthegourd

 

lThanks Egger! As you know I had volunteered to be substitute TOTWer a few days back....and then I hate to say it but I 100% plumb forgot. Thank you for making things right! Bad sugarinthegourd! Bad!

 

:-)

 

Thanks again

 

John

 

 

 

---

No worries, John.  :-)

vrteach - Posted - 10/19/2015:  15:05:26

There is a version of Ten Strike on Paul Giffords site of his recordings of Michigan fiddle & dulcimer music. It is number 6 on this page (player is below the text):

giffordmusic.net/TwoFour ...sp;C.html

Here is the text that he has:

6. Ten Strike played by Gale McAfee, accompanied by Paul Gifford, dulcimer, Manton, Michigan, April 15, 1976. Composed by David S. McCosh (1847-1936), of Mount Morris, Illinois, this tune appears as the fourth change of Quadrille: "Ten Strike" in Gems of the Ball Room (Chicago: E. T. Root, 1888), p. 6. Les Raber liked to play it, and he popularized it. Another version of it carries the name Oklahoma Rooster. Clearly out of hundreds in the Gems series, this was one of the few that went into oral tradition.

I remember Paul Tyler talking about "Gems of the Ball Room" but I forget what tune he was mentioning--maybe it was a polka.

I and one of my band-mates have the Bowhunter cd, and it has turned into a favorite of ours. But, I had not made the Oklahoma Rooster connection, even though I have played along with that tune a few times!

strokestyle - Posted - 10/21/2015:  10:54:37

I enjoy this tune thanks all for the TOTW'S!

Vrteach  this may be what your thinking of? The wonderful Chirp's Smith Ten Strike Quadrille.

Quadrille the dance.